


Inspiration Blooms

by KayLingLing7



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Gift Art, M/M, Plants, florist jean, tattoo artist marco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 13:17:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17122094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KayLingLing7/pseuds/KayLingLing7
Summary: Marco is a tattoo artist who's suffering from burn-out. On a trip to a nearby art shop he gets lost and find a plant and flower shop, which just so happens to be owned by Jean.





	Inspiration Blooms

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Madblippo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madblippo/gifts).



> Hello, Madblippo! When I saw your first prompt I felt like it was written just for me, because I absolutely adore drawing rooms full of plants, and characters covered in tattoos and piercings. I'm not fully confident in my writing, so if it's subpar please just focus on the drawing!

Marco drops his pencil to the table top in defeat, groaning into his palms as he runs his hands down his face.

“I told you this would happen.”

Marco shoots a glare over his shoulder, where Reiner has appeared. Reiner doesn’t look particularly cowed by the look, mostly because Marco has never been a particularly threatening person, and comes closer to place his hands on Marco’s shoulders, rubbing them soothingly.

Marco looks down at the paper in front of him, the gaudy lace design he’s been working on for the past 3 hours that he absolutely hates.

“Okay, fine.” Marco sags into his touch. “You were right. I’m completely burned out.”

Reiner gives his shoulders a squeeze. “I think we should postpone your bookings for the next week and just let you work on what you want to work on. Or just let you take the whole week off.”

Marco’s heart rate kicks up in fear. The idea of cancelling on all those clients and disappointing them is terrifying, but forcing himself to keep working and then do a tattoo that both he and his clients hate terrifies him even more.

He squeezes his eyes shut and nods. “Okay. We can do that.”

Reiner hums approvingly behind him. “Good. I’ll get Annie to call them up and rearrange your schedule for the next month, get you on a less hectic schedule for a while.”

“I’m going to owe Annie a bottle of wine for this. And you, too.”

Reiner grins, patting his shoulders and stepping away. “The best gift you can give me is you not falling over dead from over working yourself.”

Marco swats his thigh. “Okay okay I get it, you want me to stop. I’m still going to come in every day and work on sketches, though.”

Reiner frowns disapprovingly. He opens his mouth, but Marco interrupts him, “Nope, I’m not taking a whole week off, nothing you say can convince me.”

Reiner grunts. “Fine. But you’re working half days. 9 to 1. If I find you in here before 8am I am going to throw you out.”

Marco rolls his eyes. “Fine, I’ll do half days if I have to.”

For all his complaints, the more he thinks about this break, to work on the kind of artwork _he_ wants to make instead of tattooing people with designs straight out of flash books and Google searches, the more excited he feels.

He gets up off his stool. “I’m going to head down to that new art shop that opened in Victoria Street, and get myself some supplies.”

Reiner rolls his eyes. “You have no idea how to relax, do you?”

Reiner squints his eyes at him in challenge, then sighs. “Just go buy your art supplies and leave me be. I have a client coming in in 5 minutes.”

Marco salutes him, grabbing his wallet as he heads to the door.

* * *

He gets a little lost on his way back to the tattoo parlour after going to the art shop. You’d think after working at the tattoo shop for almost two years he’d know the neighbourhood around it, but lo and behold, he’s lost.

He’s about to take out his phone and just look up the directions when a shop catches his eye. It’s a skinny Victorian building wedged between two large modern glass monstrosities. The front of the building is covered in plants, flower boxes in the top floor windows with creepers creeping out of them covering the walls. A wall garden covers the bottom floor, and on the ground in front of the shop are dozens of pot plants, and wooden shelves covered in even more pot plants and seedling trays.

There are gold decal letters on the window spelling out Cherry Stone Florals, just in case you couldn’t guess that they sold plants.

Marco lights up at the sight of the shop, thinking about some flowers or a few succulents that he can draw as new tattoo designs. He’s already crossing the road to it, mind reeling with possibilities.

A bell above the door jingles in a warm welcome when he pushes the door open. He gaps at the interior. The space is larger than expected, brightly lit with wooden floors, wooden shelving and white walls. Every flat surface, including the floors, are covered in plants of all shapes and sizes. There’s even a huge assortment of hanging plants too, to the point that the whole shop just looks like Marco has stepped into a tropical jungle.

There’s a few mismatched tables and chairs next to a worn-out coffee machine and a bowl of fruit in a corner near the door. At the back of the shop is a chest of drawers, each drawer open with plants sticking out of them, with a cash-register and some jars of small gardening supplies resting on top. Behind the chest of drawers is a door that leads to a walk-in refrigerator, and Marco can make out cut flowers behind the door, as well as the figure of a person sliding the door open.

A man wearing a green apron steps out of the door, his arms full of cut flowers. He has blond hair with an undercut, dark eyebrows and an angular face. He looks up at Marco and gives him a polite smile.

“Good morning. Can I help you with anything?”

Marco smiles politely back. “Um, no, I’d like to just browse, if that’s okay?”

The man nods. He seems pretty uninterested, only polite because he works there. He has better things to do, considering al the flowers he’s laden down with. “Of course, holler if you need help with anything.”

With that he moves over to a table on the side of the room, one surrounded by vases and pots, the table itself covered in leaf cuttings and various flower arranging tools. He sets down his armful of flowers and gets to business.

Marco drags his eyes away from the florist and takes in the splendour of the shop again. There are plants he’s seen before, snake plants and delicious monster are very easy to spot, as well as a few small fruit trees. When he leans in close to inspect a peace lily he notices there are little hand written labels attached to most of the plants, written in neat cursive with the common name, scientific name, and care instructions for each plant on it, followed by the price of each individual specimen.

Marco gets drawn into these little hand-written notes, reading the care tips and learning the names of each plant. He likes the broad, bright green leaves of the Fiddle Leaf Fig, and the almond-shaped dark leaves of the Rubber Tree. He learns that the hanging balls covered in string with plants sticking out of them are called Kokedama, and that air plants need to be dunked in water for a day every few weeks to keep them alive.

There’s a cough behind him, and Marco looks up to see the florist looking at him with a raised eyebrow. The flowers he’d been busy with earlier are nowhere to be seen.

“You’ve, uh, been here for almost two hours. I don’t want to kick you out, but I need to go upstairs to get my lunch and use the bathroom.”

Marco’s face flushes with heat. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I didn’t even realise I’ve been here so long. I’ll go, I’m so-”

“What, you’re going to spend two hours here and not even buy anything?” The guy interrupts him, frowning.

Marco gapes, feeling like an absolute tool. He’s already spluttering out more apologies and fishing his wallet out of his pocket when the florist breaks out in laughter.

“Dude, I’m messing with you. It’s fine, I can see you were enjoying yourself. But I really do need to pee and eat, so you’re welcome to keep looking around while I just run upstairs.” He smirks at Marco, nodding towards a door in the far corner of the shop that reads Staff Only.

Marco contemplates leaving, because he really didn’t plan to stay for so long, but Reiner did say he could take time off from the shop, and he’d feel bad leaving without buying something. So he nods along and smiles sheepishly, watching as the florist turns around and leaves. He turns back to look around the shop, and gets to business trying to decide what to buy.

He’s still trying to decide on something when the florist walks back into the shop, munching on a sandwich.

“Do you want a cup of coffee?”

“Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks.” Marco watches as Jean walks over to the beat-up coffee machine in the corner, and slowly moves closer. “Sorry for staying so long, it must drive you nuts.”

The guy shrugs, fiddling with the machine. “Nah, Tuesdays are always super quiet, I don’t mind.” He turns and grins at Marco, resting against the counter. “So, I’m guessing you’re a fan of plants? Going by the tattoos?”

Marco looks down at the floral tattoos all over his arms and smiles sheepishly. “I do a lot of floral tattoos, but I actually don’t know that much about plants. I know about, like, the language of flowers, but nothing about how to keep a plant alive.”

“Oh, so you do tattoos?”

Marco glances down at the visible tattoos on his arms, all of them depicting different types of flowers, a few animals and insects thrown in. “Yeah, I work at Titans Ink?” he holds up the bag of art supplies he’s been carrying around with him. “I was on the way back there from the art shop when I got a bit turned around, and found this shop.”

The florist laughs, shaking his head. “Dude, you are _so_ lost. You went in the completely wrong direction from the art shop, if you ended up here.”

Marco groans. “I’m an idiot.”

The florist smiles, turning back to the coffee machine. “How do you take your coffee?”

“Uh, 2 sugars with milk, please.”

He puts together two cups of coffee and turns around, putting them on the closest and gesturing for Marco to come sit. Marco hesitantly sits across from him.

“I’m Jean, by the way.” The florist says, smiling around his mug.

Marco smiles, picking up his own mug. “Marco.”

“Nice to meet you, Marco.” Jean smiles.

Marco’s insides twist at the way Jean’s face lights up when he smiles. Up close he can see that Jean has the most amazing gold eyes. “Do you own this shop?”

Jean hums in confirmation. “Yup. I live upstairs.”

“This place is amazing.” Marco looks aground the shop again, still in awe at all the plants. “I’ve never seen so many plants in one place indoors.”

Jean scoffs. “Yeah, it’s ridiculous. There’s even more in the greenhouse out back, and upstairs. I have a problem.”

“There are worse addictions to have,” Marco laughs. “Tattoos are my big addiction.”

Jean smirks. “Well, here’s to making money off the things we love most,” Jean says, raising his coffee in salute. Marco raises his in return.

“So, if you were to suggest a good house plant for someone who has never had a house plant before, what would it be?”

Jean grins. “I think I get that question at least twice a week. You can’t go wrong with a succulent. As long as you put them in enough sunlight and don’t over water them you’ll be fine.”

Marco nods, thinking. “My kitchen gets a lot of sunlight, I can put one on the windowsill.”

“Yeah, that’s perfect.” Jean grins. “So, if you were to recommend a good place to get a tattoo for someone who has never had a tattoo before, where should it go?”

Marco laughs. “I think I get that question twice a day. I’d say anywhere where bone isn’t too close to the skin. Arms and legs are good.”

Jean nods thoughtfully. “I’d like to get something done on my arm, I think. I’m not sure what though, but definitely something to do with flowers or plants. Or my cat.”

Marco’s face lights up. “You have a cat?”

“Yeah, she’s around here somewhere.”

Marco grins. “I have two cats. Hopefully they won’t try and knock a succulent off my windowsill.”

“Oh, yeah, you should choose a spot where the cats don’t go too often. Cats can be assholes to plants.”

Marco laughs. “Hopefully they’ll be fine. But yeah. Uh, I actually came into the shop to look for some inspiration for new tattoo designs to draw. But looking around makes me feel like I almost have _too_ much inspiration now.”

Jean huffs out a laugh. “What were you thinking of drawing?”

Marco shrugs. “Flowers, succulents? I’m not sure, really. I kind of want to draw big leafy plants now too.”

Jean drains the last of his coffee and stands up. “Here’s an idea,” he says, as he walks a little ways off and stops in front of a shelf full of succulents. He contemplates them for a while before picking up a hedgehog aloe. He walks back over with it and places it on the table in front of Marc. “If you want to you can draw here. Just pick up any plant you want to draw and put it back there once you’re done. No need to spend a fortune buying a bunch of plants just to draw them.”

Marco glances down at the plant Jean’s brought him, then back up to Jean’s face. “Are you sure?”

Jean shrugs. “Yeah, keep me company. You can let me know if you want me to bring any of the cut flowers out from the fridge too.”

Marco glances down at the succulent again, then over at his art supplies, and the shop at whole. Maybe drawing in this new inspiring place instead of the cluttered noisy tattoo shop would do him some good.

He glances back at Jean and throws him a grateful smile. “I would love to draw here, thank you.”

Jean shrugs and glances away, a small smile on his face. “No problem. Enjoy.” And with that he scuttles off to work on things around the shop.

Marco pulls his bag of art supplies towards him and starts digging through it. He’d actually bought a lot of new supplies at the art shop because they were having a huge sale – a pad of watercolour paper, a set of pencils and erasers, a set of new watercolours, paintbrushes and a watercolour pen, and 3 copic markers and a brush pen. He’s actually got everything he needs to do the kind of art he wants to.

Jean and Marco both dig into their work, both going about their business quietly. Every now and again they’d exchange some questions or short conversation. A few people wonder into the shop throughout the day - an elderly man coming in to buy some flowers, and a young woman coming buy to buy some fertiliser - but other than that it’s pretty quiet. Jean’s cat eventually makes an appearance for a while too, and falls asleep on the chair opposite Marco’s.

Marco finds the environment _so_ easy to work in. He asks Jean for a glass of water and uses it to paint a quick drawing of the hedgehog aloe, then a lilac echeveria, a ball cactus, and a monster delicious leaf that Jean hands him after pruning an unruly one from the green house out back. He gets started on sketching some flowers too, which he’ll probably line in ink instead of painting them in colour.

Every so often Jean will pass behind Marco and glance at his work, complimenting him on how much he loves the drawings and pointing out his favourite parts.

Marco finds that he enjoys Jean’s input. He likes his quick wit and easy conversation, and at least once he’s looked up from his work to see Jean across the room arranging flowers, and gets stuck for a few minutes just watching the deft movement of Jean’s hands.

Eventually Marco puts down his paintbrush and stretches his arms over his head. His hand is a bit cramped up and his body is stiff from sitting for so long, but he hasn’t felt this good about making art in a long time. He looks down at the work he’s created and loves every single one of them.

He feels Jean’s presence behind him before Jean lets out a low hum of appreciation. “Wow, these are all amazing, Marco.”

Marco beams in pride, touching the corner of one of the pages. “Thank you. I’m really happy with them. I think after my forced hiatus I’m going to post all of these on the shop’s social media sites and see if people want to get any of them as tattoos.”

“I bet there’s going to be wars in the comment section over these.” Jean reaches forwards and touches the corner of the one Marco did first, the hedgehog aloe. “I would love to have this as a tattoo.”

“Really?” Marco twists around to look at Jean over his shoulder. Jean nods. “Man, I can keep that one aside for you. It’s yours.”

Jean’s eyes go wide. “Wait, really? You sure? How much would it cost?”

Marco shrugs. “I’ll do it for free.”

“What? No!”

Marco turns around fully. “No, come on. You helped me find inspiration again. For the first time in months I’m actually excited to do more tattoos and art work. And you let me spend the last-” Marco glances down at the time on his phone and them does a double take. “-six hours here???” he looks back up at Jean in shock. “It’s seven o’clock! Shouldn’t the shop be closed by now??”

Jean shrugs. “Yeah, it’s been closed since six. I just flipped the sign on the door and let you keep drawing.”

“ _What?_ ”

Jean shifts uncomfortably. “I would have stopped you eventually when I wanted you to leave!”

Marco huffs in frustration. “Okay. Well I’m definitely doing the tattoo for you for free.” He gets up and dusts the eraser bits off his lap. “ _And_ I’m getting you dinner.”

“Huh? Why?”

Marco shrugs. “We’ve spent the whole day together and you seem cool. I want to get to know you better, if that’s okay?”

Jean raises his eyebrows. “So, like, is this a thank-you dinner, or a date dinner?”

“Ummm.” Marco glances down at the floor. “Both?”

Jean stares at him for a long moment, then breaks into a smile. The way he smiles makes his eyes crinkle up in the cutest way. “Okay. Yeah, I’d love to go to dinner with you.”

Marco smiles back. He feels giddy with excitement. “Great, let’s go. There’s a great place that does Tapas nearby.”

Jean laughs. “Dude, you got lost getting here, remember? How about I choose the restaurant?”

“Okay, that’s fair,” Marco’s face hurts from smiling so much, “your choice. Let’s go.”

He holds his arm out, and Jean links his own through his. They walk out the front door together, switching off the lights and locking up as they go.

**Author's Note:**

> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/KayworxX)


End file.
